Swivel mounting for vehicle front seats

Abstract

A tilt-away system for front seats of vehicles for permitting the entire front seat to be moved as far as possible out of the entry and exit region of the vehicle includes a seat frame front support assembly including a support stand which supports the front portion of the seat frame, a seat frame rear support assembly including link arms on each side of the seat frame, the link arms having forward ends pivotally secured to travellers which are displaceably mounted in rails and rearward ends connected to the rearward portion of the seat frame and being locked in a use position for the seat by a link arm locking mechanism, the link arms being adapted to be pivoted forwardly and upwardly to tilt the seat forwardly after it has been moved forwardly on the rails to a position intermediate the use and access positions, and a release mechanism for releasing the front portion of the seat frame from the support stand and the link arm locking mechanism in one operation so that the front seat can be moved forward to the intermediate position and then tilted forwardly and upwardly to the access position.

We claim: 
     
       1. A tilt-away system for a front seat of a passenger car for permitting the seat to be displaced forward axially of the vehicle from a use position to an intermediate position and then to be tilted forwardly from the intermediate position to an access position for providing improved access to a rear seat of the vehicle, said front seat including a seat frame having a forward end and a rearward end, said system comprising: a supporting and locking stand for supporting said seat frame at its forward end, means supporting said seat frame at its rearward end and including adjusting rails mounted at first and second sides of the front seat, travellers displaceably mounted in said adjusting rails for fore-and-aft movement axially of the vehicle, and pivot means pivotably connecting said rearward end of the seat frame to said travellers at said first and second sides of the front seat, said pivot means including link arms each having a front region and a rear region and which, in the position of use of the front seat, lie generally horizontal and extend rearwardly, pivot pins which pivotably connect said link arms in their rear regions to said seat frame, and pivot axles which pivotably connect said link arms in their front regions to said travellers and which define a pivot axis for said link arms, first stop means located in the path of travel of one of said travellers to be engaged by one of said travellers when said front seat is moved to said intermediate position for causing subsequent pivoting of the link arms upwardly about said pivot axis with continued forward movement of the front seat, whereby the front seat is tilted forward relative to said adjusting rails from said intermediate position to said access position, second stop means in the path of travel of at least one of said link arms for limiting the pivoting of said one link arm in such a way that when said front seat is in said access position, said pivot pins lie forward of a vertical plane that extends through the pivot axis defined by said pivot axles, and locking means for each link arm and including a locking pin fixed to one of said travellers, a pivot pin on said seat frame, and a hook mounted to said seat frame by said pivot pin and pivotable about said pivot pin and adapted to hook around said locking pin when said front seat is in said use position for locking said link arm. 
     
     
       2. Tilt-away system for a front seat of a passenger car according to claim 1, characterised in that connections (55) of the frame (3) are made to second link members (63) that are fitted pivotably to the link arms or first link members of the resulting double linkage (58), means for locking with travellers (56) being provided for the use position of the connections (55), and in that by tilting the front seat (1) up into position (14) both the first and second link members (59, 63) of the linkage reach the end position (61) and the connections (55) reach the highest position (66), these positions being overridably locked by resilient retaining means. 
     
     
       3. A tilt-away system for a front seat of a vehicle for permitting the front seat to be displaced forward axially of the vehicle from a use position to an intermediate position and then to be tilted forwardly from the intermediate position to an access position for providing improved access to a rear seat of the vehicle, wherein the front seat includes a seat frame having a forward end and a rearward end, said tilt-away system comprising: front support means including means for supporting the forward end of the seat frame; mounting means including travellers displaceably mounted in adjusting rails at each side of the front seat for mounting the front seat so as to be displaceable axially of the vehicle from said position of use to said intermediate position, said adjusting rails having a forward end and a rearward end, means for connecting the rearward end of the seat frame to said travellers and including a pivot assembly for each of the travellers, each pivot assembly including a link arm having a front region and a rear region, a pivot axle connecting said front region of said link arm to one of said travellers, pivot means including a pivot member pivotally connecting said rear region of said link arm to said seat frame, said link arm extending generally horizontally with its rear region located rearwardly of its front region when the front seat is in said use position, said travellers being moved to a position near the forward end of said adjusting rails, locating said pivot axis near the forward end of said adjusting rails when said front seat is moved forward axially of the vehicle to said intermediate position; first stop means cooperating with at least one of the travellers when said front seat is moved to said intermediate position to cause said link arm to pivot about a pivot axis defined by said pivot axle to an end position, tilting said front seat forwardly relative to said adjusting rails to said access position; and second stop means cooperating with said link arm for limiting the travel of said link arm in such a way that, at its end position, said pivot member lies forward of a vertical axis which extends through the pivot axis defined by said pivot axle. 
     
     
       4. The tilt-away system according to claim 3, wherein a linking means includes said link arm, said link arm being a first link arm having a first end pivotally mounted to one of said travellers and a second end, and a second link arm having a first end pivotally connected to said second end of said first link arm and a second end pivotally connected to said frame, and means for locking said first link arm with one of said travellers for the use position of the seat, and wherein by moving the front seat forwardly and tilting the front seat upwardly toward said access position, said first and second link arms reach raised end positions with the point of connection of the frame to said second link arm being at the highest position. 
     
     
       5. A tilt-away system for a front seat of a vehicle for permitting the front seat to be displaced forward axially of the vehicle from a use position to an intermediate position and then to be tilted forwardly from the intermediate position to an access position for providing improved access to a rear seat of the vehicle, said front seat including a seat frame having a forward end and a rearward end, said system comprising: front support means including means for supporting the forward end of the seat frame; mounting means including travellers displaceably mounted in rails at each side of the front seat for mounting the front seat so as to be displaceable axially of the vehicle from said position of use to said intermediate position; rear support means for connecting the rearward end of the seat frame to said travellers, said rear support means including a pivot assembly for each of the travellers, each pivot assembly including a link arm having a front region and a rear region, a first pivot axle connecting said link arm to one of said travellers in said front region of said link arm and a pivot pin pivotally connecting said link arm to said seat frame in said rear region of said link arm, said link arm extending horizontally with the rear region of the link arm being located rearwardly of the forward end of the link arm when the front seat is in said use position, said front seat being movable forward axially of the vehicle to a position that is intermediate said use and access positions; first stop means cooperating with one of the travellers when said front seat is moved to said intermediate position for causing said link arm to pivot about a pivot axis defined by said pivot axle to an end position whereby the front seat is tilted forward relative to said adjustment rails from said intermediate position to said access position; second stop means cooperating with said link arm for limiting the travel of said link arm in such a way that, at its end position, said pivot pin lies forward of a vertical plane that extends through the pivot axis of said link arm defined by said pivot axle; and locking means including a hook pivotally mounted to the frame and adapted to engage said traveller for locking the seat frame to said traveller when said front seat is in the use position. 
     
     
       6. The tilt-away system according to claim 5, including further locking means for locking the forward end of the seat frame to said front support means. 
     
     
       7. The tilt-away system according to claim 5, wherein a linking means includes said link arm, said link arm being a first link arm having a first end pivotally mounted to one of said travellers and a second end, and a second link arm having a first end pivotally connected to said second end of said first link arm and a second end pivotally connected to said frame, and means for locking said first link arm with one of said travellers for the use position of the seat, and wherein by moving the front seat forwardly and tilting the front seat upwardly toward said access position, said first and second link arms reach raised end positions with the point of connection of the frame to said second link arm being at the highest position.